PHILADELPHIA -- The Biden administration has a new federal strategy to address gun violence surging in cities across the country, including Philadelphia.

American Rescue Plan funds will be used to invest in a "Community Violence Intervention Collaborative," made up of Philadelphia and 14 other cities. Trusted community members can work directly with people who might be involved in gun violence to intervene in conflicts and connect them with social services.

Kallel Edwards, Philadelphia organizer for the group CeaseFirePA, believes there's an extraordinary need to fund organizations doing on-the-ground work to get at the socioeconomic root causes of gun violence.

As Edwards put it, "This is an opportunity for cities to use the funds also to prevent some of the gun violence over the summer, by creating jobs and summer programs for the youth who have really taken a big hit, you know, in these cities, in these targeted cities."

In Philadelphia, 261 people have been killed in shootings so far this year, a 37% increase compared to this time last year.

Community Violence Intervention or 'CVI' programs nationally have reduced incidents by up to 60%, according to a 2019 report from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

City leaders in the collaborative will meet over the next 18 months to learn CVI best practices and how to add public-health approaches to addressing gun violence to their policies.

In his announcement Wednesday, President Joe Biden said these community efforts save lives, and that local governments also have federal dollars to support these programs.

"For folks at home, the American Rescue Plan, which is a once-in-a-generation investment to reduce violence in America, is available," Biden stressed. "It means more police officers, more nurses, more counselors, more social workers, more community violence interrupters, to help resolve issues before they escalate into crimes."

Biden's new gun-violence prevention plan also includes a 'zero-tolerance policy' cracking down on gun dealers who break the law.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he's hopeful this federal partnership can help the city address its gun-violence epidemic.

"We are going to hopefully work with the federal government to maybe get some of these large amounts of guns off the street, and continue working hard in our communities to build trust, to build relationships, and to put in place programs that give people the opportunity to make the right decisions in their life as opposed to making the wrong ones," Kenney said.

The City Council and Mayor Kenney have committed $155 million to gun violence prevention in next year's budget.

More than 200 Black Hoosiers lost their lives to homicide in 2019, and a new report reveals the state has one of the highest overall rates of Black homicide victims in the nation.

Based on federal crime data, the study found the 2019 Black homicide victimization rate in Indiana was nearly 29 homicides per 100,000 Black residents, which is the country's third-highest rate.

Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, which issued the report, said most of the states with high rankings share a common thread.

"They have limited gun violence prevention laws in the state itself, and often rely solely, or nearly solely, on federal standards," Sugarmann explained. "This is the case with Indiana, which has virtually no controls beyond the federal statutes."

The study only includes data up to 2019, the most recent year such federal crime statistics are available. The raw data is supplied to the federal government by local law enforcement agencies. And while the report's authors pointed out the study includes the most accurate information available, they added its findings are "limited by the quantity and degree of detail in the information submitted."

Nearly 90% of Black Hoosiers who died by homicide in 2019 were killed with a firearm.

Sugarmann argued the best way to address the issue is by implementing a range of gun control policies. It might be a tough pitch in the GOP-controlled General Assembly, but such proposals could find traction in local communities across the state.

However, as Sugarmann acknowledged, local officials are not allowed to pass gun laws stricter than the state-level standards.

"Now, when you have virtually no state standards, that leaves those communities with no options to basically empower them to address the issues on a local level," Sugarmann stated. "I think that could be a very important first step in addressing this level of violence in Indiana."

The report is part of an ongoing series from the Violence Policy Center, examining Black homicide data both at the state and national level. Sugarmann noted the FBI recently changed its crime-reporting protocols, which could reduce the amount of available data for future reports and limit research into gun violence.

The U.S. is trying to cope with another mass shooting after several people were killed at a holiday parade in Illinois this week. In Iowa, mental-health advocates want to stress the need for the public debate to avoid common misconceptions.

The recent wave of mass shootings has renewed calls for stricter gun laws, while opponents of that approach often focus on mental-health concerns.

Peggy Hubbert is the executive director of the Iowa chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. She said people who consistently tie mental health to mass shootings are obscuring the facts.

"People with serious mental illness," said Hubbert, "are much more likely to be the victim of violence than to be the perpetrators of it."

The motive behind Monday's shooting hasn't been fully established. But Huppert said common themes from past attacks - such as racism - aren't mental illnesses with a simple diagnosis.

NAMI says while support for more mental-health treatment is welcome, it shouldn't get in the way of common-sense reforms that promote gun safety.

Huppert also said she sees a mental health component that she said should get more attention - that these attacks create the potential for survivors, community members and the public at large to deal with trauma afterwards.

"When you enter a movie theatre, or grocery store or a church," said Hubbert, "you immediately scan to see where the exits are. And kids are thinking the same thing, because they're having active shooter drills in school."

As for added mental-health support, Huppert said there have been examples of improvements, including programs on college campuses. But she acknowledged that provider shortages in states like Iowa.

Congress recently approved the Safer Communities Act, which includes some bipartisan gun-control measures, along with mental-health funding. However, some advocates say the plan needs tougher provisions on gun regulation.

The U.S. Supreme Court took a step to limit states' abilities to pass gun-control legislation Tuesday, a move which likely will not directly impact Indiana's gun policies.

The decision struck down a century-old New York law requiring people to demonstrate a self-defense need when applying for a concealed-carry permit. Legal scholars say the decision will have ripple effects on gun-control policies nationwide.

Pierre Atlas, senior lecturer in the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI, said Hoosiers are unlikely to directly feel those effects.

"I would say, though, that the logic of the ruling, and what they say about the Second Amendment in general, could have an effect in Indiana in terms of any other current gun laws or any gun laws that might be put on the books in the future," Atlas emphasized.

Atlas pointed out the court's ruling essentially reinforces Indiana's approach to gun permitting and gun control. Indiana's current policies are known as "shall-issue" laws, where the burden of proof to deny a gun license is on the state. New York's now-defunct law was a "may-issue" policy, which shifts the burden onto the citizen to prove they need the firearm.

For as many gun-control doors as it closes, Atlas argued the court's majority decision also opens a few paths. Penned by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, the decision noted there were laws in the mid-19th century dictating "individuals could not carry deadly weapons in a manner likely to terrorize others."

"Imagine today maybe somebody coming up with a law saying you're not allowed to carry a firearm openly in a way that terrorizes others," Atlas posed. "That might be used perhaps to reduce open-carry of AR-15s, which you could say could be used to terrorize others."

Indiana is poised to enact a new law Friday to eliminate the need for a handgun permit, which Atlas observed will trade out the state's current "shall-issue" approach to handguns for an even looser gun control policy.

The law has been criticized by law enforcement and gun-safety groups, who contended it removes an important safety barrier to keep firearms away from people who shouldn't have them.